Lexington (CVA 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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filo Proud of their motto Service to the Fleet, LEXlNGTON'S Supply Department works long and hard making life possible on 40,000 tons of moving steel. There is no corner grocery-so they feed 3000 men three meals a day. There is no local laundromat - so they launder 20 tons of clothing a week. There is no nearby bar- bershop-so they clip 200 men a day. All free. During Underway Replenishments, supply personnel can be seen on the Hangar Bay moving tons of food, equipment, spare parts. At no other time can you see so many together-their iobs are too widely dispersed. More difficult questions are: Who does the ordering? Where does all the stuff come from? Why did we order what we did when we did? Who pays for it? This is logistics, the crux of Supply's iob. Food is the number one common denominator. On an aver- age day you will have a couple of eggs with toast, butter, fried potatoes, ham and coffee for breakfast. During the day a pound of meat, a quart of milk, and other assorted foodstuffs go down the hatch. Now multiply that by 3000. Ordering the food, storing it, preparing it, cleaning up-all Supply functions. Equipment is another of Supply's problems. Other people run the gear and other people repair the gear-but Supply gets it aboard in the first place. Let's start at the beginning. Armed with a DDll50 lseveral copiesl go down to GSK or Aviation Supply. You want a dozen pencils or a ream of paper or red lead. That's easy and the duty storekeeper will have it in your hands in a iiffy. Perhaps your desires are a bit more exotic - running to turbine assemblies, pump suction valves or a l00 lb. bottle of helium. No problem for Supply. lf they don't have it, they will get it. Chances are though that what you want is in one of the storerooms. This is because the ship stocks as a matter of routine 58,000 separate items, Aviation Supply keeps 22,000 of these iust to keep the air- planes running. But if the storekeeper comes back with empty hands, do not despair. ln Westpac alittle paper work, a quick message, and NSD Yokosuka or Subic will deliver what you want. lf the part is not there, the request will go all the way back to NSC Oakland and, if still necessary, the search will continue through the entire Navy Supply System and even back to the manufacturer in some cases. Yours was not the only request by a long shot. Communi- cations wants a new mimeograph machine, the hobby shop needs more airplane models, Navigation desires wiper blades for the Bridge, and so forth. Handling all requests-and filling them all takes a lot of work and a lot of organization. The third maior function of Supply is Human Services. Last week you sent two sets of dungarees and five pair of socks to the laundry. The rest of the division turned in their dirty clothes. Every division did. Every chief and officer did. Twenty tons of clothing and every bit laundered and returned. Supply people man the gedunk stand, happily dispensing cookies, candies, and soft ice cream to chubby sailors. Moreover, you had a pair of shoes heeled. You got a haircut. At the ship's store you bought soap, a roll of film, and a pack of razor blades. Even more important was the payline you stood in last week. That was the best stop of the week but all were necessary. Stewards maintain the efficiency and comfort of the Wardroom. All are run by Supply. That is how Supply makes life liveable aboard LEXINGTON- iust as they do on every ship in the Fleet. ' feeding 3000 men three meals a day is a round-the-clock job

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I 1 fhe marine defachmeni provides infernal physical securiiy by guarding sensifive areas. CAPTAIN'S marines af sea do noi INSPECTION forget spif and polish. a Fuiiy equipped Landing Parfy marine.

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I SQJQJ: 7 N 41532159-,.9:.?iQY5YH'1J::,,fr 4 5 3 siewclrds work hard fo increase fhe comforf and efficiency of wordroom. W c -Q -X ,K I